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Halfway through his eighth decade, Woody Allen conjures up the most magical movie of his career. A star-studded comedy with tender edges, Midnight in Paris features a wistful Owen Wilson as a high-priced screenwriter who longs to be un littérateur and a fabulously lethal Rachel McAdams as the dire brat he's about to marry. Adrien Brody and Marion Cotillard sparkle plenty, but a beautifully subdued performance by Kathy Bates literally makes history.

What To See, Play, And Read Now

What To See, Play, And Read Now

Foreign Soil

Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass, New Moon) trades in pretty stars and supernatural pixie dust for the gritty power of A Better Life, which echoes Italy's bleak and beautiful post–World War II neorealist cinema but is set among Los Angeles' demimonde of undocumented workers. Demián Bichir (the politician–drug lord Esteban Reyes in Weeds) is pure charisma as a skilled gardener trying to save his son from the gang life.